Illuminated sign



Oct. 28, 1941. F; s. :GAN'OUNG ILLUMINATED SIGN Filed June 14, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS F. S. GANOUNG ILLUMINATED S I GN Filed June 14, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

WWI-42 ATTORNEY 5 Patented Oct. 28, 1941 UNITED STATES 2,260,743. f rLLm vnNu TEo smu A 1 Floranee samuel' Ganoung Ole-an, N..Y. Application. Juneli i, lssaii'seii arK042725497 aoleim-s. (01L 40%!33) My invention relates. in general to electrically illuminatedv signs and more particularly to signs utilizing reflectors for varying the illumination of the sign.

It is highly desired in advertising through the 1 use of a sign to convey a message clearly and quickly, toattractattention. and to present a pleasing appearance. The use of illumination aids in clearly presenting'the characters of the sign for ready observation and the animationor change in illumination aidsin attracting attention to the sign and in afiording a pleasing and novel appearance. g,

It is an object of my invention to provide. a sign having the above described. desirable. characteristics. 1

Another objectv is the provision. of a sign having animated illumination of. a distinctive and attractive character. a I

Another object is the provision of a sign for quickly catching the eye of the observerand for readily conveying the message displayedupon the -sign. i Another object is the provision. of a. sign illuminated with different colored lightsnhaving varying efiect upon the illuminated face of the Another object is the provision of a signhaving spaced light sources of different character for emanating lightof said different character upon ment for causing areas of distinctive color characteristics to be variously positioned upon the faceofa sign. Another object is the provision of an arrangement of light sources emanating light of different quality and reflecting. means forvaryingthe quality of light transmitted through portions of the illuminated-portion of the sign.

Another object is the provision of asign having translucent portions and transparent portions through which light is transmitted'fromthe interior of the sign, illuminating means for transmitting light ofdifferent qualities throu h said transparent and translucent portions, and a reflector for recurrently changing theintensity of light of different qualities,respectively, transmitted through local areas ofthe said translu cent and transparent portion. Another object is the provision of an illuminating arrangement for recurrently changing the character of. light upontheface of the sign, the change of character-of the light'being'decisive and pronounced in' one portion of the face of the sign and being graduated and fused another portion of the face of the sign. Another object is the provision: of an illuminated sign. having recurrent changes in the quality of the light observedupon the facexof the sign, there being a -distinction between. the changes in one portion' of the face and the changes in another portion of the f ace.

A still furtherobject is to provide animproved sign construction operatingin a novelmanner and. producing a new and improved. result.

And a still further object is the provision of a sign which is simple and eificient. in operation,

economical, in; construction and. maintainance, and attractive: ingappearance.

A fuller understanding of my inventionimay be had by referring to the following description a-nd claims taken in conjunction with the. accompanying drawings, in which likeparts are'designated by like reierence characters, and in which:

' Figure 1 illustrates asign embodying the fea- ,tures; of. my, inventiorn as shown in a front eieva tion; with portions cutaway toshow the interior of the-signQI .v g Figure. 2 shows across-sectional view of. the sign taken through the, line 22 of. Figure. 1, showing principally the gaseous tubes.

Figure 3 shows across-sectional view of the sign.taken through the line 3-3. of Figure 1, showing principally the gaseous tubes- Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken through i the line 4-4 015 Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view the line 5 5 of Figurel. Figure 6sho ws a portionoi'the glass plate upon the 'face'jof the sign in Figure-1 and illustrates one form of light transmitting face which may Ice-used uponthesign.

Figure? isa section. of another 'facehwhich may .be .used for the sign and having a modified form.- V V Figure 8 is a .crossesectional view through the ,line' 8-8 of Figure 6. I

' And Figure- 9 is a cross sectional view through the line 99 of Figure 7. Theparticular form'oi sign illustrated in Fig.-

taken through ure 1 is of the. type which may beextended over,

a side-walk from theside of a building: 'ihe inected to the end of the tubes 30. connecting cable 56 connects the end of the housing I is preferably made of sheet metal of generally rectangular outline with rounded ends, andincludes an upper frame member II and a lower frame member I2 secured to the housing I0 by rivets or welding and extending longitudinally of the housing I0 adjacent to its upper and lower wall, respectively. The members II and I2 extend outwardly of the housing I0 upon the left hand end of Figure 1 and are adapted to be anchored to the side of a building. Within one of the arcuate ends of the housing there is mounted the vertical plate I3 welded or otherwise suitably secured to the members II and I2.. l

At the other arcuate end of the housing I0, the members II and I2 are connected by the vertical angle member I4 and the vertical supporting member I5 welded thereto, respectively. vA hori=,

zontal supporting member IBis secured'by bolts,

welding, or other suitable means to the plate I3 and the vertical supporting member I5 at a position substantially half-way between the members II and I2. The members II, I2, I3, I4, I5and I6 are thus assembled and joined to provide a strong and rigid frame within the housing ID.

A plurality of cross-pieces I! are mounted transversely of the members II, I6, and I2 and are disposed in horizontal planes. The crosspieces I! in the upper portion of the housing II) are secured to the upper wall of the housing In as well as to the member II. The cross pieces I Iin the lower portion of the housing are secured to the lower wall of the housing as well as to the member I2. The cross-pieces II adjacent the member I6 are entirely supported by the member I6 as is illustrated in Figure 5. There are a plurality of spaced insulated supports I8 carried by the cross pieces I1 and upon the insulated supports I8 are carried a plurality of gaseous tubes, the tubes beingfsecured to the supports I8 in the usual manner. It is therefore seen from the several views that there are three banks of gaseous tubes positioned within the housing in spaced relationshipin respect to the other banks of tubes.

A bracket support 21 secured to the members I I I and I2 supports a transformer I9 and a transformer within one of the arcuate ends of the housing. The upper transformer I9 secured to the bracket 21 and the lower transformer 20 secured to the bracket 21 have suitable terminals connecting with the primary supply conductors 26 adapted to energize the transformers. The transformer I9 has the secondary leads 2I and 22 connected in circuit relationship with the gaseous tubes 28 of the upper bank of tubes and the gaseous tubes 29 of one-half of the inter mediate bank of tubes. A suitable connection 23 connects the tubes 28 of the upper bank to the tubes 29 of the intermediate bank in circuit relationship. The transformer 20 has the secondary leads 24 and connecting the tubes 3| of the lower bank of tubes and tubes 30 of onehalf of the intermediate bankof tubes in circuit relationship. The lead 24 is' connected'to the beginning of tubes 3| and the lead 25 is con- A suitable tubes 3I to the beginning of the tubes 30. By this arrangement two transformers are utilized for energizing the tubes arranged inthree banks of tubes, each transformer contributing toward the energization of half. of the intermediate bank of tubes. The arrangement of the lower tubes 3| is substantially th same as. the upper tubes 28 and therefore a longitudinal cross-section view through the bottom of the housing in the location of tubes BI is not repeated. The type of quality of light emanating from the tubes is dependent upon the choice of the rare gases used in the tube, the character of the glass of the tube, the possible coating upon the tube, or in a combination of such variables. Th tubes in any one bank may be of any one color or may be of a mixture to give a light of another desired quality. The tubes in each bank may be thus selected to give any desired combination of colored light as may be desired. For example, the upper bank of tubes may emanate a light of red quality, the

green quality and the tubes of the intermediate ,b'ank may emanate a light of bluish-white qual- Elongated mirrors or reflecting members 35 and'36 are rotatively mounted within the housing ID in such manner that the reflecting member 35 is intermediate the upper and the intermediate banks of tubes and the reflecting member 36 is intermediate the lower and intermediate banks of tubes. A shaft 32 extends along the reflecting member 35 and is secured thereto by the fastenings 3! in such a way as to cause the reflecting member 35 to revolve upon the rotation of the shaft 32. The shaft 33is similarly secured to the reflecting member 35 in such a way as to cause the reflecting member 36 to revolve upon the rotation of the shaft '33.- Suitable bearings 34 carried by the vertical member I5 and the plate I3 support the rods 32 and 33 in a manner to permit their free rotation.

There is a hole 38 and a hole 39 provided in the plate I3 for providing space for the driving arrangement'for rotating the shafts 32 and 33. A sprocket wheel 40 is rigidly secured to the end of the shaft 32 so as to rotate therewith, the sprocket wheel 40 being positioned to be accommodated by the hole38. The sprocket wheel 42 is similarly secured to the shaft 32 so as to rotate therewith. The endless chain 4| engaging the sprock ets 40 and 42 causes the simultaneous rotation of the shafts 32 and 33". The chain 4| passes through the holes 38 and 39 in the plate I3 so as to extend upon opposit sides of the plate l3. A sprocket wheel 43 is also rigidly secured to the shaft 33 adjacent to the sprocket wheel 42. The free end of the shaft 33 is rotatively carried by the bearing 44. The drive sprocket wheel 46 driven by the electric motor 41 is connected in driving arrangement with the sprocket wheel 43 by the chain 45. The electric motor 41 is mounted to the side of the vertical plate I3. Energization of the electric motor causes the drive wheel 46 to rotate the sprocket wheel 43 and shaft 33 and at the same. time to rotate the shaft 32 through the chain 4 I. In the form of the driving arrangement illustrated in Figures 1 and 4 the reflecting members 35 and 36 are rotated in unison, in the same direction, and at the same anglerelative to a plane passing through the shaft 32 and 33. Modifications may be made by making certain changes in the driving arrangement described such as causing the reflecting members to rotate in opposite directions, at different angles to said plane, or in different synchronization. A reciprocating movement may also be obtained by certain changes in the driving arrangement in order to obtain a recurrent movement of the reflecting members by reciprocation rather than by rotation.

The reflecting members 35 and 36 may be formed of any material having the desirable refleeting characteristics, chrome plated. metal being a preferabl form of reflector. The reflecting member has substantially flat reflecting surfaces on opposite sides of the reflector and is relatively thin. The reflective surfaces disposed on opposite sides of the reflecting members with relatively little thickness between them afford a substantially continuous reflecting surface extending around both sides of the reflecting members. By this arrangement there is substantially at all times a reflecting surfac disposed toward any one of the banks of light. As soon as one side of the reflecting member has turned away from deflecting position relative to a light source the opposite reflecting surface of the said reflecting member moves into reflecting position relative to said light source.

In the opposite flat'rectangular sides of the housing ther are open spaces bounded by the peripheral edge portions 50. Rectangular frames 5'! fit into the open spaces provided inthe opposite sideof the housing in a manner to engage in light proof engagement with the peripherial edge portions 50, respectively. A panel 52 of glass, plastic, or other suitable material is mounted within the open space in each frame 5| in a manner to close the open side of from the tubes within the housing. The light transmitting panel portions are divided between a part that is transparent and another part that is merely translucent. Opaque portions may also be included in the panel 52 for the formation of the characters of the sign being displayed. Many different combinations of translucent material, transparent material andfopaque material are possible in the construction of the panel 52. It

is to be understood that in the meaning of the terms the transparent portion transmits light through the panel directly with substantially little diffusion and the translucent material transrangementof portions of different character in the panel 52, In Figure 7 the opaque material 53 forms the body of the letter, the. transparent porti'ons: 54 forms the outlined the letter, and the mits light throughthe panel52' with a relatively large amount of diffusion.

For illustrative purposes some preferred meth ods of arranging the portions of the panel 52 are illustrated in Figures 6 and 7. By way of exam-- ple, the letter I is shown as a character of the sign being displayed. The word' character is to be considered in its broader meaning as covering not only letters'but also symbols, ornamentations, and configurations. In the arrangement shown in Figure 6 the field or background is the opaque portion 53, the outlineof the letter is the transparent portion 54', and the body or the letter is the translucent portion 55. A convenient method of forming the opaque portion 53, the transparf ent' portion 54, and the t'ranslucent portions 55 is by the use of a panel of clear plate glass upon which opaque paint may beapplied' to form the opaque portions 53 and uponwhich a translucent paint may be applied or a frosting may be produced to obtain the translucent portions 55 leaving the transparent portions 5; clear. v

In Figure 7' there is illustrated another artranslucent portion 55 forms the background or fielder the sign. Other arrangements for the panel 52 may include only a translucent portion and a transparent portion without the use of opaque material. Letters in relief may beapplied to the plate-5'2 v in one arrangement for obtaining the desired configuration. Also, in order to secure "clear visibilityof the signindaylight when the interior of. the sign. is not illuminated the characters of the signmay be applied to the panel 52 so as to be visiblewithout the need of the interior illumination of the sign.-

Figures 8- and 9 are cross-sectional views through the lines 8-8 and 9-9 of Figures 6 and 7, respectively. These views illustrate the relative positioning of the portions of diflerent character making up the panel 52.

The upper bank of tubes is adapted to emanate lightof one quality, such as red; the bottom bank of tubes is adapted to emanate light of a second quality, such as green, and the middle bank of tubes is adapted to emanate light of a third quality, such as bluish-white. The light of each quality directly emanated from the respective banks of tubes upon the panel is most intense upon the local area of the panel adjacent to the respective banks of tubes. Under the examples given, the red light normally dominates the upper area of the panel, the green normally dominates the lower area of the panel, and the bluish-white light normally dominates the intermediate area of the'panel. Light emanating to the panel from the respective banks to O-therareas beyond the local areas dominated is normally subdued by the dominant light of the adjacent banks of tubes.

The provision of the reflecting members rotating at the varyin angles in respect to the banks of tubes and the panel disturbs the normal dominance of areas of the panel by the different quality lights. The reflected light is added to the lightnormally emanating tothe panel to vary the intensit of the light of'certain qualities appearing in areas of the panel. As a reflecting member progressively'rotatesthe areas in which light of the difierent qualities dominates alternately expand and contract in response to the relative angularity of the reflecting member. This expansion and contraction of the areas dominated by different quality lights gives the appearance of waves or bands of light of different quality moving across the panel, up and down.

Under the example given, with the upper reflecting member in one position the red light will dominate most of the panel above the middle bank of tubes and the bluish-white area above the middle bank will be confined to a relatively small area. With the lower reflecting member at the same angle the bluish-white light will however 7 dominate most of the panel below the middle bank andthe green lighton the bottom will be confined to a relatively small area. The dominance of the lightsat the same time upon the op-.

I panel with theconstantlyj moving waves or bands of color.

'By reason of the diffusion of light through the translucent portion of the panel the lights of different quality fuse along the margin between the areas dominated by different quality lights. The fusion of the red and bluish-white, for example, in the shift between the two colors gives the appearance of a graduated and slow change of waves or bands of color.

The direct transmittal of light through the transparent portion of the panel marks a more decisive and pronounced change. The Waves or bands appear more distinct and separate to make the change over from one color to another seem to flash. The comparison of the change appearing through the translucent portion and the change appearing through the transparent portion adds further animation and sparkle to the illumination of the sign. There is therefore not only the attraction to the sign obtained by the moving color waves or bands upon the panel generally but also the eye appealing feature of the comparison in changes appearing in the transparent and translucent portions of the panel.

Although I have described my invention with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an illuminated display device, ,a housing having an illuminated field opening, a panel posi tioned in the said opening to form a closed housing, said panel having a translucent portion and a transparent portion forming characters to be displayed,v a first light source of one quality mounted within the housing adjacent one location of said panel for emanating light of said one quality to said panel, a second light source of another quality mounted within the housing adjacent a second location at a distance from said first location for emanating light of said another quality to said panel, said panel having a portion intermediate of said first and second locations to be illuminated, a light reflecting member having two reflective surfaces, said light reflecting member being movably mounted Within the housing and between said first light source and said second light source, each said light source comprising a bank of gaseous tubes and lying substantially in parallel planes on opposite sides of the light reflecting member, the width of each bank of gaseous tubes being substantially the same width as the width of the light reflecting member and means carried by the housing for progressively moving said reflecting member to recurrently change its-refiecting position relative to said first light source and to said second light source toalternately present each reflective surface toward the light sources and to recurrently illuminate said intermediate portion of the panel with alternately reflected light from said sources, the relative position of the first light source, the second light source and the reflecting member providing for the alternate reflection of light from said first and second light sources to said panel, the said alternate deflection changing the intensity of light transmitted to portions of the panel from said first light source and said second light source to vary the pre-dominance of light of different quality transmitted through the panel, the light transmitted through the transparent portion of the panel showing a clear cut change of quality of lights in the said variation of pre-dominance, the light transmitted through the translucent portion of the panel showing a fusion of lights of different quality in the said variation of pre-dominance.

2. In an illuminated display device, a housing having an illuminated field opening, a'panel positioned in the said opening to form a closed housing, said panel having a translucent portion and a transparent portion forming characters to be displayed, a first light source of one quality mounted within the housing in proximate lighting relationship to one local area of the panel for emanating light of said one quality to the panel, a second light source of another quality mounted within the housing in proximate lighting relationship to another local area of the panel at a distance from the first light source and from said one local area of the panel for emanating light of said another quality to the panel, the said lights of different quality being intensified on difierent of said local areas of said panel, a movable light reflecting member lying in a plane and having two reflective surfaces, said light reflecting member being mounted within the housing and between the first and second light sources, each said light source comprising a bank of gaseous tubes and lying substantially in parallel planes on opposite sides of the light reflecting member, the width of each bank of gaseous tubes being substantially the same width as the width of the light reflecting member, said light reflecting member beingadapted to alternately reflect light from the first light source and the second light source and from each of the two reflective surfaces to vary the areas of intensification of said lights of different quality on said panel intermediate of said local areas, the light transmitted through the transparent portion of the panelshowing 'a decided change of quality in the variation of said areas of intensification and the light transmitted through the translucent areas of the panel showing a fusion of the said different quality lights in the variation of said areas of intensification.

3. An illuminated sign construction comprising, in'combination, a housing having an illuminated field opening, a light transmitting material positioned in the field opening to form a closed housing, said light transmitting material having a translucent portion and a transparent portion forming the characters of said sign, aplurality of spaced light sources mounted within the housing adjacent to different local areas of the light transmitting material, said local areas being spaced to form an intermediate area in the plane of said material, said light sources being adapted to emanate light of different quality, said emanated light of different quality being instensified at said different local areas relative to said intermediate area, respectively, of the light transmitting material, and movable light reflecting means having two oppositely disposed reflective surfaces, said light reflecting means being positioned within the housing for alternately reflecting emanated light from different light sources from each of the two oppositely disposed reflective surfaces to said light transmitting material in varying degree of intensity on said intermediate area, said alternate deflection varying the said extent of the said areas of intensified light of different quality to animate the characters of said sign, each said light source comprising a bank of gaseous tubes and lying substantially in parallel planes on opposite sides of ,mounted in the housing in ,spaced relationship the light reflecting means, the width of each bank of gaseous tubes being substantially the same width as the width of the light reflecting means.

4. An illuminated sign construction,comprisarea of the light transmitting wall, a third light source of a third quality positioned within the housing adjacent athird local area-of the light transmitting area, saidlocal areas being spaced from each other in the plane of saidwall and defining intermediate areas on said wall, said light sources being adapted to emanate light within the housing and through the light transmitting wall, plane light reflecting means having oppositely disposed reflecting surfaces rotatively mounted within the housing in the path of the light emanating from the said light sources for selectively and recurrently reflecting light from said light sources to said light transmitting wall to vary the intensification of quality of light transmitted through said intermediate areas of the light transmitting wall, the variance in intensification of light of different quality recurrently changing the quality' of light transmitted through said transparent and said translucent portions of the light transmitting wall, said light reflecting means comprising two rotating reflecting members, one of said reflecting members being positioned between the first and second light sources and the other reflecting member being positioned between the second and third light sources, and means for actuating the rotating reflecting members.

5. An illuminated sign construction comprising, in combination, a housing having an illuminated field opening in a side thereof, a sheet of light transmitting material positioned in said opening to form a closed housing, a plurality of banks of gaseous tubes mounted substantially horizontally of said housing, one of said banks being positioned adjacent an upper portion of said sheet, a second of said banks being positioned adjacent a lower portion of said sheet, a third of said banks being positioned adjacent an intermediate portion of said sheet, each of said banks being adapted to emanate light of a difierent color characteristic within said housing and through said sheet, a first reflector rotatively mounted within the housing intermediate the first and third banks and a second reflector rotatively mounted within the housing intermediate the third and second banks, said reflectors having opposite reflective surfaces to afford substantially continuous reflection toward said sheet, and driving means for rotating said reflectors to vary their respective reflecting angle relative to said banks and said sheet, the rotation of the reflectors selectively deflecting light from said light sources to said sheet to recurrently vary the character of light transmitted through portions of said sheet.

6. An illuminated sign construction comprising, in combination, a housing, said housing having a side wall, said wall having a translucent and a transparent portion forming the sign to be illuminated, three banks of gaseous tubes .to each other and positioned adjacent to different local :areas of said wall, each of said banks 10 S- iadapted toemanate light of dif- ';ierentcolonrcharaeteristic dominating saidlocal areas,respecnvely two reflectors having opposite reflective suriaces rotatively mounted in the housing intermediate saidpbanks .of tubes, driving meanscarried :by the housing tor rotating said reflectors to selectively and progressively reflect light from saidpbanksfof tubes, respectively, to saidlocalareas of said wall, the said rotation changing the said dominance. of color characteristic of the said local areas, the change of color characteristic of the translucent portion being graduated and the change of; color characteristic of the transparent portion being decisive to proyi-de distinction in the illuminationof said portions.

' 7;; The combination of two differently colored 7 light sources spaced apart in a housing having two light transmitting walls, said two light sources being positioned adjacent to different local areas of each of said walls whereby light from each of said two sources falls on each of said Walls, said local areas being separated by intermediate areas of said walls, respectively, a substantially flat reflector having oppositely disposed reflective surfaces rotatively mounted in the housing to alternately reflect light from said light sources at progressively varying angles to said light transmitting walls, and driving means carried by the housing for rotating said reflector, said alternate reflection at varying angles causing a progressive change in inverse ratio of the extent of the local and intermediate areas of the said wall through which the light from said light sources is intensified, each said light source comprising a bank of gaseous tubes and lying substantially in parallel planes on opposite sides of the light reflector member, the width of each bank of gaseous tubes being substantially the same width as the width of the light reflector member.

8. The combination of two difierently colored light sources spaced apart in a housing having a light transmitting wall, said light sources being substantially equidistant from spaced portions of said wall, said light transmitting wall having a translucent portion and a transparent portion forming a character to be displayed, a substantially flat reflector positioned adjacent a portion of said wall intermediate of said spaced portions and movably mounted in said housing and adapted to receive light from said two sources and reflect it to said light transmitting wall, and means ,for recurrently moving said reflector to alternately reflect light from said light sources at progressively varying angles to said light transmitting Wall, the said alternate reflection at varying angles causing a progressive change in the extent of the areas of the intensification of said lights of different color, respectively, dominating said spaced and intermediate portions of the wall, the change of. said areas being pronounced at said transparent portion of the wall and being graduated at said translucent portion of the wall, each said light source comprising a bank of gaseous tubes and lying substantially in parallel planes on opposite sides of the light reflector member, the width of each bank of gaseous tubes being substantially the same width as the width of the light reflector member.

. 9. An illuminated sign construction comprismg, in combination, a housing having a light from said first local area, a third light source (IQ of a third quality positioned within the housing adjacent a third local area of the light transmitting area at a distance from said first and second local areas, said light sources being adapted to emanate light within the housing and through the light transmitting wall, said emanated light being relatively intense at said local areas and relatively weak intermediate of said local areas, plane light reflecting means having oppositely disposed reflecting surfaces rotatively 29 mounted within the housing in the path of light emanating from the said light sources for se= lectively and recurrently reflecting light from said light sources to said light transmitting wall to vary the extent of the intensification of light transmitted through said each of the local areas of the light transmitting wall toward a next adjacent local area, the variance in intensification of light of different quality recurrently changing the quality of light transmitted through said transparent and said translucent portions of the light transmitting Wall, said light reflecting means comprising two rotating reflecting members, one of said reflecting members being positioned between the first and second light sources and the other reflecting member being positioned between the second and third light sources, and means for actuating the rotating reflecting members in synchrony with the reflecting members substantially parallel to each Other.

F. SAMUEL GANOUN G. 

